Sam Casey

As a formidable batsman he represented the county with distinction for more than two decades.

Now cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott is hoping to use his clout to life-saving effect as he begins a vital innings as an ambassador for one of Yorkshire’s most high-profile charities.

Geoffrey Boycott pictured at his home at Boston Spa...SH10014340h...6th October 2015 Picture by Simon Hulme

The former England man has accepted an invitation to become a patron for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) after helping to raise more than £1million for the charity in the last year.

“I’m delighted to have been asked,” he said. “It’s a marvellous charity, serving Yorkshire – our county – and I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Boycott and his wife, Rachael, held a lavish fundraising dinner in the garden of their home in Boston Spa, near Leeds, earlier this year which raised about £35,000. But, keen to do more to help, Boycott then wrote to Chancellor George Osborne to request Government funding.

He said: “I didn’t really expect a reply – I thought it would get lost with all the other correspondence he gets. But four days later I had a phone call from his secretary asking me if I had a minute to speak to the Chancellor and he said he’d give £1million for the air ambulance.”

Chancellor George Osborne chats with Geoffrey Boycott and paramedics during a visit to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance facility at Nostell Priory near Wakefield. Picture Scott Merrylees SM1009/26c

Boycott follows in the footsteps of another Yorkshire cricket legend, Fred Trueman, as a patron of the charity.

The charity’s chairman Peter Sunderland, said: “As a Yorkshireman with a prominent international reputation, who better than Geoffrey Boycott to spread the word?”